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Grand Challenges is a family of initiatives fostering innovation to solve key global health and development problems. Each initiative is an experiment in the use of challenges to focus innovation on making an impact. Individual challenges address some of the same problems, but from differing perspectives.

James KublinFred Hutchinson Cancer Research CenterSeattle, Washington, United States

Grand Challenges Explorations

Infectious Diseases

1 Oct 2008

To generate the large numbers of infective malaria sporozites needed for use in an effective vaccine, James Kublin of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in the U.S. will use high throughput screens to develop a library of media compounds needed to optimize in vitro production.

Suzanne FleiszigUniversity of California, BerkeleyBerkeley, California, United States

Grand Challenges Explorations

Infectious Diseases

1 Oct 2008

Suzanne Fleiszig of the University of California, Berkeley will attempt to decipher the molecular mechanisms that maintain broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity of the healthy eye, which could lead to innovative strategies to combat infectious disease in general.

François BaneyxUniversity of WashingtonSeattle, Washington, United States

Grand Challenges Explorations

Infectious Diseases

1 Oct 2008

François Baneyx of the University of Washington in the U.S. will synthesize nanoparticles consisting of an inorganic adjuvant core surrounded by a three-dimensional antigen shell. The particles will target lymph node dendritic cells that play a key role in initiating immune responses to infectious diseases.

Nikita Malavia of Boston's Children's Hospital has teamed up with MIT's Robert Langer to engineer nanoparticles that mimic host cells in an attempt to deceive viruses into releasing genetic material which is rendered useless by viral inhibitors.

Joseph DeRisiUniversity of California San FranciscoSan Francisco, California, United States

Grand Challenges Explorations

Infectious Diseases

1 Oct 2008

Joseph DeRisi of the University of California at San Francisco proposes to engineer naturally occurring erythrotropic bacteria to target malaria infected red blood cells to serve as a potential prophylactic and treatment for malaria in humans.

Optical information, temperature gradients, trace gases and volatile odors are key sensory inputs for mosquitoes. To mitigate the transmission of malaria, Szabolcs Marka of Columbia University in the U.S. will research how optical irradiation might be used to physically disrupt mosquitoes' sensory systems such that they can't find human hosts. This project's Phase I research demonstrated that insects are repelled or change their flight behavior in response to different infrared light gradients. In Phase II, Marka's team will build on this research to design a prototype device that can deter insect vectors from human hosts.

Brian FoyColorado State UniversityFort Collins, Colorado, United States

Grand Challenges Explorations

Infectious Diseases

1 Oct 2008

Brian Foy and Massamba Sylla of Colorado State University will research whether providing endectocides, drugs that kill parasitic worms, to animals and humans will effectively kill mosquitoes which feed on them. Through targeted and spaced drug administration, mosquitoes incubating disease-causing pathogens are expected to die prematurely, thus interrupting disease transmission, but these methods would limit the development of endectocide resistance.

Samuel Landry of Tulane University will research the use of immune tolerance of dominant HIV epitopes prior to conventional vaccination with an HIV protein in order to stimulate a broader immune response.

Xilin ZhaoFoundation of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New JerseyNewark, New Jersey, United States

Grand Challenges Explorations

Infectious Diseases

1 Oct 2008

Xilin Zhao of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey will test whether anaerobic gas, which causes rapid depletion of oxygen, will kill the tuberculosis bacteria without permanent damage to surrounding tissue.

Christina SmolkeStanford UniversityStanford, California, United States

Grand Challenges Explorations

Infectious Diseases

1 Oct 2008

Christina Smolke proposes to develop synthetic RNA devices that can process and transmit molecular input signals in hopes that this technology will result in more effective, targeted strategies for detecting and protecting against infectious disease.